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Spoonface breaks track record in first practice.

Man, here we go again. Renault and BAR has to find some more speed if they are going to have a chance.
91 325i "Cashmere"
69 tattered and hailstorm dented 1600/2002 "Reno"
Racing is life. Everything before or after is just waiting."

Re: While it\'s

Do you suppose Williams is sandbagging, throwing the season away so his short-timer driver don't leave for other teams with 'vital secrets'? Personally, if I were BMW, I'd be pretty pissed by now, unless they're holding back also. Of course, we're playing the name game for next year's drivers but I'll expect a withering assault from BMW Williams when they get the driver lineup stabilized. Any other ideas why we're so crappy this year?

I\'m sure the driver situation is hurting but doubt

there are any "secrets" to be taken with JPM and Ralfie. They're race car drivers, not engineers, so unless there was something that was totally "outside" the box and/or illegal or they could walk out with cad-drawings or PC programs, there's nothing for them to take.
BTW, it is bogus for the FIA/F1 to allow drivers to sign to drive for another team before their contractual obligation has elapsed to their existing team. If you were an engineer or technician for Williams, do you think the driver situation would be a de-motivator?
Other than Williams completely messing up the design for the FW26 and/or choosing a radical v. evolutionary design, I'm at a loss as to what the problem is. The chassis is SLOW. Is BWM down on power? The TV telemetry says they rev to 19K plus, so where's the power loss v. eveyone else, some of whom don't rev that high.
I guess it could be worse. We cold be rooting for MacLaren!RichardM///3
Delaware USA
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Alpine White/Imola Red Leather
"Life is too short not to drive an ///M"

why we\'re crappy . . .

Basically, Williams and McLaren both tried to do way too much at once in an attempt to counter the Ferraristone advantage.

Ferrari has an advantage with its own personal tire manufacturer. Plus, the post-hungary "michelingate" left Michelin behind in the tire war, and unlikely to catch up.

Next to tires, the most economical and fastest way to find speed is through aerodynamics (e.g., 6 months in a wind tunnel and reshaping some carbon fiber is cheaper than developing a whole new engine).

Knowing they couldn't compete with tires, Williams and McLaren tried for aerodynamics and they both blew it. They abandoned successful but traditional single-keel tubs for twin-keels which supposedly allow for more efficient underbody airflow (one reason for the F26 "walrus" nose). However, this theoretical advantage has yet to show any quantifiable, real-world results. Plus, the twin-keel creates suspension geometry issues which McLaren, at least, has had trouble with.

In the meantime, the Ferrari-specific Bridgestones are kicking Michelin's tail.

On the engine front, it seems that the clear power advantage BMW had over the field in 2001-2003 is gone. Ferrari and Honda seem to be at least equal (Toyota claims it is the most powerful, but I'm not buying their hype).

While Williams and McLaren were focusing on trying to leapfrog over Ferrari, BAR and Renault just have done very good jobs with more traditional designs. They have no chance at competing with the red team (Monaco being an exception), but are happy to battle for second.

Re: I\'m sure the driver situation is hurting but doubt

I think other than Ferrari, BMW still has one of the most powerful engines going but with no way to get that power to the ground all that power means nothing. The Michelin's have never found themselves since the tire controversy from last year, and the FW26 chasis seems to be a total waist. If they were running hard, and just being out-performed, that would be one thing. But, with the races run so far this year, coupled with the intial testing that started early in '03, how could Williams still not have a clue?

A year ago Williams and BMW got into a heated argument over chasis development, and BMW discussed going it alone, before ironing-out an agreement with Williams. Anyone think BMW will once again question the need to have more control over chasis development?

It looks like BMW, and/or new engineering blood is

needed. Maybe the new technical director (Replacing Patrick Head) will have the answer and/or will listen to the right people.

If the chassis is bad enough, the may have to run extra downforce, which makes the engine "look bad."

I'm thinging the Michelin thing last year really hurt Williams: it's almost like their engineering decisions assumed X from Michelin and the FIA ruling forced Michelin to change X to Y- and Williams has not been able to compensate.

well it says something that it took everyone else

2-3 years to catch up to BMW's engine. I thought I remember reading that the FW26 was a major breakthrough over the 25, and that it was going to "open a can", so to speak. Maybe they are holding back. Maybe they purposely left the engine alone so they would look weak this year and next year take their cake. We know for sure that they don't like their driver's anymore, maybe they are spending their efforts sacrificing this year to be that much better for next year. I don't know that's for sure.-------------
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